Welcome to My House
“Okay, that’s it, I’m calling her.”
A group of six friends stood before a newly restored horse statue as the one with rainbow hair pulled out her phone.
“Honestly Rainbow Dash,” Rarity interjected, “She’s five minutes late. Give a lady a few minutes to prepare herself.”
“Yeah but if she not here soon, we’re going to miss the movie,” Rainbow Dash replied.
As if right on cue, the portal at the base of the statue glowed and out flew a red and yellow character.
“Sorry I’m late,” Sunset Shimmer said. “Completely lost track of time over there. Seems like there’s some kind of time skip. It was high noon when I left and now it’s…” Sunset looked at her phone “5:00?” Sunset looked at the sun. “Three years here and I’m still not use to the Sun setting differently each day,” she said mostly to herself.
“Yeah yeah whatever you’re here now,” Rainbow Dash said, turning to the portal. “What were you doing over there anyways?”
Rarity nudged Applejack and gave her a slight smirk. Annoyed, Applejack reached up to her hat and produced a five dollar bill and handed it to Rarity. “Last time Ah bet on Rainbow rememberin' somethin' important,” Applejack muttered to herself.
“Well Twilight,” Sunset stopped and looked over to the Twilight Sparkle standing in front of her. “Sorry I mean Princess Twilight Sparkle, no offense.” Sunset said apologetically.
“None taken,” Twilight replied. “I’m still not use to the fact that there’s an alternative pony princess version of me either. And that is a sentence I never thought I would say.”
“Well anyways, Princess Twilight called me over to help her teach a lesson on how to move past the mistakes you made. I was teaching a bunch of ponies Twilight thought could use some advice or help moving forward.” Sunset continued. “Had a weird draconequus demigod of chaos, two spoiled rich fillies, a cult leader that traveled through time and “The Great and Powerful Trixie”. Seems like her ego is a constant in any universe.” Sunset chuckled to herself.
“Fascinating,” sarcastically Rainbow Dash replied. “But come on now, if we don’t hurry we’ll be late for the show!”
Rainbow started pushing Sunset towards Applejack’s truck. Sunset brushed her off and started walking with the rest of the group following. Sunset stopped and started patting herself all over.
“Oh shoot,” she said. “I left my wallet back home. I’ll go run and get it.” Sunset started to make off.
“Nah, it’s no problem,” Applejack injected. “We’ll go pull up to your place before we go. It’ll take us five minutes.”
“No, I’ll just go grab it real quick,” Sunset said somewhat nervously. “It’ll be faster this way.”
“I doubt it,” Twilight said. “Even if it was in the opposite direction, the speed Applejack’s vehicle is able to go it undoubtedly faster than you’d be able to run. It be far more expedient if we just drove there.”
“Actually now that I think about it, I’ve never been to Sunset Shimmer’s home,” Fluttershy said.
“Me neither!” Pinkie Pie interjected.
“Same here,” Applejack inputted.
“Now that you mention it,” Rarity stated.
“Yeah whatever, let’s just go to Sunset’s place and get her wallet and move people!” Rainbow Dash said.
“What? No!” Sunset said very nervously as everyone stared at her. “Err, um, what I mean it that it’s no big deal, you guys don’t need to come.” She gave a very shaky smile as she reached her hand behind her head.
“Okay now I’m curious,” Rainbow Dash started. “What’s so bad you got up where you live that you don’t want us to see?”
“You do have a place to live, right darling?” Rarity asked. “I mean I hope you’re not living in the library like Princess Twilight did when she first got her.”
“Oh no I have a place,” Sunset said. “Though I did live in the gym here for the first few weeks when I arrived here.”
“Okay then let’s see it,” Rainbow butted in.
“You guys don’t want to see it,” Sunset said, “I mean it’s small, there’s not a lot going on there and it’s could use a good cleaning. It’s nothing important.”
“Then there’s no reason why we can’t go there,” Rainbow Dash replied.
“Well I mean but…” Sunset started
“Listen,” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “Either you invite us all up there or we start stalking you until we find out where you live.”
“Now hang on just one gosh-darn minute,” Applejack said. “We ain’t doin’ no stalking!”
“Okay fine,” Rainbow Dash said. “Me, Rarity and Twilight would stake you until we found out where you lived.”
“Rainbow!” Rarity replied. “Why on Earth would you accuse me of degrading myself to such a loathsome activity such as that?”
“For the gossip,” Rainbow Dash bluntly stated. “And Twilight here, since I figure I could get her with some ‘Let’s understand the cohabitation of extra dimensional equine living standards’ or something like that.”
Rarity raised her hand to object but was at a loss for words.
“Listen here, sugarcube,” Applejack said to Sunset. “Ya don’t need to show us your home if ya ain’t comfortable with it. Ah mean Ah’m not going to lie that Ah’m a bit curious myself now but only when you’re ready. And don’t worry about this one.” Applejack pointed at Rainbow Dash. “Ah’ll be sure to keep her in line.”
“Thanks Applejack.” Sunset said sincerely. “But Rainbow Dash is right, I probably should show you guys my home. I mean you’re my friends after all.”
“How about I make you a deal?” Rainbow Dash said. “You show us your place after the movie and I’ll pay for your movie ticket. Deal?”
“Throw in some popcorn and a soda?” Sunset smirked.
“Fine,” Rainbow Dash said, annoyed at losing another twenty dollars. “Now come on or we’ll be late!”
2 hours and 37 minutes, plus a rather long commercial runtime later,
“Hang a left up here,” Sunset said to Applejack.
In Applejack’s truck, Sunset rode shotgun, with Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity packed into her back row seats.
“I thought you said these seats could hold three adults, Applejack.” Rarity complained about her seating position.
“Yeah well apparently by adult I guess they mean 5’1” double leg amputees who are undernourished.” Sunset joked. “Take a right here, before the stop sign.”
Applejack turned into the parking lot of high-rise apartment complex.
“So is there any sort of special parking permits and what not’s Ah got to be aware of?”
“No just park anywhere, though closer to the main door the better.”
Finding a decent enough spot, Applejack pulled in and parked her truck. Everyone filled out as Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash jump off from the truck’s loading bed.
“So this is the oh so mysterious place you live?” Rainbow Dash teased at Sunset. “Not too bad.”
“Yeah well come on,” Sunset said as she lead them to the main lobby of the complex and into the elevator. She hit the eleven button.
“You live on the eleventh floor?” Fluttershy asked. “Oh my that must be a hassle if the elevator isn’t working or when you want to move something heavy.”
“Yeah that can be a hassle,” Sunset said. “But I really like the view. In Equestria, building with more than ten stories are still relatively new and even then they’re only located in the really big cities.”
The elevator dinged to let them know they had reached their destination and Sunset lead them down the hall to room 1138.
“Here we are, home sweet home,” Sunset said nervously. “You sure you still want to see it?”
“Yes! Just open the door already.” Rainbow Dash impatiently stated.
“Okay but I did warn you,” Sunset turned the key and opened the door.
The six friends walked into the room. The room was very large with a large panoramic window view of the entire town stretching for miles. In the middle of the room was a large leather looking couch with a coffee table in front of it and several bookshelves off to the side. To their left was a fully stocked kitchen with a countertop bar area and a few stools next to it. Far off into the left was a hallway which lead to the bedrooms and bathroom. All of this would be impressive if not for the absolute mess surrounding it all.
There were dozens of shoes littering the floor in front of the door. Clothes were flung about the place haphazardly. Bowls, cups, silverware and a couple of pasta strainers covered the counter space in the kitchen and the sink was full of dirty plates. The stove was host to several large cooking pots. Books were piled high on the coffee table and several stacks left disorganized next to it. The apartment also had the distinct odor of burnt popcorn and cheese to it.
“So, um, what do you think,” Sunset said very nervously, already knowing her friends responses.
“Oooh,” Rarity said as she fainted into Rainbow Dash.
“Omph,” Rainbow Dash grunted as she caught Rarity. “Okay Rarity, need you to get up. You’re not all that light.”
At that remark, Rarity regained consciousness immediately. “Are you suggesting that I’m fat?!”
“Huh what?” Rainbow Dash replied, slightly confused at the reply. “Oh yeah I’m sorry I’m not just able to immediately pick up a 120 lbs-ish person when they decide to just up and faint.”
“Well I’ll have you know that I’m,’ Rarity started.
“Not now,” Applejack interrupted, breaking the two apart. “Sunset, no offense, but this place is a pigpen. And Ah should know, Ah own a few.”
“Yeah I know,” Sunset said, rubbing her head guilty. “Now you know why I really didn’t want you guys coming over. I’ve been wanting to clean this place up for a long time, but stuff keeps getting in the way, you know like the sirens, The Friendship Games, Princess Twilight wanting me to give lectures, school work and so on.”
“Ya know, if ya had just said so, we would have let ya clean up the place a bit before we came over,” Applejack said.
“Yeah but I got a free movie ticket and some snacks,” Sunset smirked.
“Man I can’t believe your parents let you keep your apartment like this,” Pinkie Pie said. “If my parents saw this, they’d sent me out to the rock farm. Well more like Limestone would be still.”
“I’m a 24 year old pony from an alternative dimension,” Sunset replied. “My parents are back in Equestria.”
“Wait, you’re 24?” Pinkie asked.
“Well that’s in horse years,” Sunset stated.
“Oh okay,” Pinkie accepted, before a look of confusion appeared on her face. “Wait what?”
“How did you afford all this then Sunset?” Fluttershy interjected. “I mean I’ve never seen you at a job, especially one that would pay well enough to buy all this.”
“Oh that’s easy, I’ll show you.” Sunset walked off into the hallways and returned with a small chest in her hands. “With this.”
Sunset opened the chest and the others stared at awe. In it was a small collection of pure gold coins with horse figures on the heads and a weird looking Yin-Yang style symbol on the back.
“I cashed out my Equestrian bank account before I left,” Sunset said. “Apparently gold is a lot more valuable here on Earth than it is in Equestria.”
“How much do these weigh?” Rainbow Dash asked, awestruck as the rest of her friends were, picking up a coin to examine it.
“About 11 grams give or take.”
“And how many do you have?”
“Well I had about 5,500 bits before I left, and I probably spent about 1000 since I’ve been here, what with this apartment, the furniture, my car, the forged birth certificate and other ID’s.” Sunset trailed on.
“Twilight, how much?” Rainbow asked.
“About 2 and a quarter million.” Twilight said almost unaware of the figure she rattled off, her gaze still stuck on the large sum of gold.
Rainbow Dash put the coin back down very gently and closed the lid. “Sunset I have one question to ask: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU STILL DOING IN HIGH SCHOOL?!”
Startled, Sunset jumped back a few feet. “What do you mean?”
“I mean why aren’t you down in the Bahamas or some other topical paradise living it up?”
“Because that’s not what I want to do?” Sunset replied. “The thing is in Equestria, we don’t have a want to acquire money for money’s sake. Yeah we still use money, you know for buying stuff, universal means of trade and whatnot, but most of us don’t go out just wanting to make money so we can just stop and lounge around. We don’t find that all that rewarding. I mean a few of us do, but most of us want to go out and use our talents and share them with the rest of the world. We get a bigger kick out of fulfilling our potential to the fullest, or some of the stuff like that. Funny that I was against that namby-pamby sort of stuff back when I was in Equestria. And besides, I wouldn’t want to leave high school, it’s where all of my friends are.”
“So you wouldn’t miss a few coins then?” Rainbow Dash reached into the box.
“Yeah sure,” Sunset said and passed out a few coins to her friends. Rainbow Dash and Rarity were positively beaming.
“That’s mighty kind of ya to offer us this,” Applejack said, “But it’s your money, ya should feel free to do with it what ya like.” She reached for the other coins and put them back in the chest. She had the most difficulty getting it back from Rarity.
“But dear, just think of all the fabric and wonderful designs I could make!” Rarity pleaded.
“No, it ain’t right and you know it,” Applejack said finally, grabbing the coin.
“Spoilsport,” Rarity dejectedly said.
“Well great, you’re super rich, got super friends, especially with me included and you get to go super saiyan. Man some people get all the luck,” Rainbow Dash smirked, her tone conveying mock jealousy.
“Super saywhat?” Sunset asked.
“You know when you went all glowing and super powered against Twilight at The Friendship Games?” Rainbow replied. “Don’t tell me you’ve never seen Dragon Ball Z?
“Other world pony,” Sunset stated. “I don’t know half of the things in this world. That’s half of the reason I have so many books lying around here.”
“Oh man, it’s like the best show ever!” Rainbow stated. “Me and Fluttershy would race home after grade school and we’d watch the ever loving heck out of it! Remember that Fluttershy?”
“Oh yeah,” Fluttershy replied meekly. “Those were good times.”
“Hey don’t you have it on DVD?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Well sort of, I have ka-“
“Perfect!” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “We’ll help Sunset clean up her total trainwreck of an apartment and then have a sleepover where we’ll marathon a whole bunch of DBZ! Hey Sunset, where’s your TV?”
“I don’t have one,” Sunset replied. “They don’t exist in Equestria and so I never bought one.”
“Well that’s fine, we’ll just have to go back and get one from my house,” Rainbow Dash said. “I got a pretty sweet one that’s sure to be big enough for all of us.”
“Okay then, if that’s fine with everyone else,” Sunset asked. “Everyone’s okay with having a movie sleepover here?”
“Eeyup.”
It’s alright with me, I mean so long as you’re fine with it.”
“I’ve got nothing going on, just so long as Spike is taken care of.”
“It’ll be wonderful helping you, um, spruce up this place.”
“I’m always down for a party!” Pinkie Pie, pulling confetti out of nowhere, threw it all over the place and tooted a small kazoo. “Oops, sorry, I just made this place even dirtier.” Pinkie snickered.
“It’s fine,” Sunset smiled back. “At least it’s a lot more colorful than the mess I made.”
“Well, that’s settled then. Me, Applejack and Fluttershy are going to go out and get the equipment while you guys work on cleaning all this up,” Rainbow Dash said. “’Kay bye!” She said rapidly and dragged Fluttershy and Applejack clean out the door.
The others looked stunned for a minute at Rainbow’s fast exit and started picking up the clothes and silverware scattered around the apartment.
“Oh that little-“ Rarity started before stopping her clean up.
“What?” the others asked.
“Rainbow Dash abandoned us to do all the chorus while she, Applejack and Fluttershy can skip out on all of them!” Rarity stated rather crossly. “Rainbow Dash, when you get back, you’re going to get it!”
End